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Six Swift and Company facilities raided
Multiple Swift and Company meat processing facilities were raided by the
US Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
on Tuesday 12, involving hundreds of illegal workers.
The raids followed a 10-month investigation into a large scale identity
theft scheme, which supplied stolen identification documents to illegal
immigrants. The plants affected include 77% of Swift's pork operations.
Swift and Company added that if a substantial number of
workers are removed from plants, full production will not be possible until they
are replaced.
Swift, which is a major US producer of beef and pork with $9
billion in annual sales, claimed that the raids violated previous agreements
with the government related to participation in a federal pilot worker
programme.
Swift & Company president and CEO, Sam Rovit, stated: “Swift has
never condoned the employment of unauthorized workers, nor have we ever
knowingly hired such individuals. Since the inception of the Basic Pilot
programme in 1997, every single one of Swift's new domestic hires, including
those being interviewed today by ICE officials, has duly completed I-9 forms and
has received work authorisation through the government's
Basic Pilot programme. Swift has played by the rules and
relied in good faith on a programme explicitly held out by the President of the
United States as an effective tool to help employers comply with applicable
immigration laws.â€
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